


Allen and Ling's Excellent Adventure

by NotNecessarilyinBetween



Series: Manifold Alchemist [2]
Category: D.Gray-man, Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Allen is a bamf, Diplomacy, Drachma, F/M, Ishvallans, M/M, Slow Romance, Time Travel, Torture, War, Xing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-07 23:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5474873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotNecessarilyinBetween/pseuds/NotNecessarilyinBetween
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allen was living out his life in Amestris with his two brothers. It was peaceful and quiet. Until he found a stranger lying on the ground next to a sacred monument pleading for food. Then it wasn't so quiet or peaceful anymore. Sequel to Equivalence.</p>
<p>Xpost from fanfiction.net</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Three Alchemists

Allen stared at the lump of human that was laying splayed on the ground, and let out a long sigh as he shifted down to poke at the body.

One poke, a twitch, another poke, the head moved. Allen then went to grab the person's shoulder, and gave it a rough shake.

A hand suddenly moved out and grabbed at Allen's wrist. The face turned up to stare at him beseechingly.

"Fooooooooooooood"

~~.~~.~~.~~.~~

It had been a rollercoaster, after Allen had come back with Ed and Al. First it had been meetings after meetings, going over what happened, going over all the new material that they had found out about in Allen's previous world. Hohenheim had left at some point or another, but had actually promised to stay in contact.

Ed wasn't holding out much hope for that.

When that chaos had finally finished up, Allen, Ed, and Al ended up going back to Resembool for a long needed vacation, Mustang had pretty much forced them all to go, to figure out what they wanted to do now that they were all free.

It was while Allen was there that Winry helped set him up with his new automail arm. Ed and Al had been there with him the every step of the way, and Ed was a library of useful information.

~~.~~

"Hey, we really match now! We are like mirror images, you know, we could have some real fun if we made you look like me...what would the Fuhrer Bastard say then!"

"Please, nii-san, he is actually good at running the government, I don't want him dead yet."

"Fiiiine."

"..."

"Allen, why are you looking so excited?"

"Well, you pretty much gave us free reign for everyone except Mustang."

"Allen..."

~~.~~

While Allen was getting used to the automail, Ed and Al also spent time teaching him the basics of Alchemy. Apparently, he was an Alchemist after seeing the Truth, and he really didn't want to waste an opportunity to grow and fight. To keep walking.

Allen knew he wasn't a genius like the Elrics', but Al was an amazing teacher, and Ed was moderately helpful in coming up with new ideas and topics, and ways to relate what Allen had known in his old world to the many new topics he was studying.

It was about eight months after the surgery, and Ed was playing around with a design Allen had never seen before.

"What does that one do?" Allen leaned over, and traced over the lines.

Ed gave him a small smile, "It is the one we used to get you back from the Gate."

Allen looked up sharply, and then nodded, sliding into the seat across from Ed. He stared at the design for a time, and then grabbed a nearby piece of paper, and a pencil.

Ed looked on curiously as Allen began to sketch a circle on one piece of paper, and then the same circle with a different figure in the top left quadrant on another.

He looked around the table briefly, and then placed the salt shaker in the middle of one circle.

"Allen?" Ed looked at him bemusedly, but Allen just grinned widely, and activated the circle in front of him.

With the crackle of Alchemy, the salt shaker disappeared from one circle, and reappeared in the other.

Allen's grin widened, and Ed let out a loud laugh.

"Looks like you can still teleport stuff around, is it a leftover from the Ark?"

Allen shrugged, "Maybe because that was the kind of stuff I was used to, it is what I focused on when I saw the truth?"

Ed nodded, "Makes sense, now, let's see what else you can do!"

~~.~~

It was at the end of the convalescence that the three brothers sat down and finally figured out what they were going to do.

Al took one look at Ed's face, and he smiled, "So, back to Mustang, is it?"

Ed grunted, crossing his arms, "Yeah, fine, he keeps sending info on this job he wants done, sort of continuing what I was doing before, but more in depth or some shit."

Ed sunk back in his seat and fidgeted, looking from Al to Allen, "And I spent way too much time keeping that bastard alive to leave now."

Allen grinned, and then leaned forward, a dark smirk on his face, "Just make sure to talk to Winry first, right? I mean, we all heard your lovely confession the other day an-"

Ed leapt forward and slapped his hands over Allen's mouth, "SHUT UP."

Allen grinned, and licked Edward's hand, causing the older boy to flinch and jump forward with a war cry.

" Stop.Now." Al growled out, and both Ed and Allen went back to their respective seats.

Al glared from one older brother to the other, before settling back with a huff, "Well, I'm probably going to go back to a similar position as before, research," he perked up a bit, and a small smile flitted over his face, "actually, I have been looking at Xingese alkahestry lately, I'm thinking of finding a way to combine the two, alchemy and alkahestry, it could have some really interesting results for medicine and-"

Al cut himself off with a small cough, and then flushed, "Sorry."

Ed grinned, and Allen shook his head with amusement, "So both of you are going back to Central then? Good."

Ed looked over to him, "why is that good?"

Allen shrugged, a sly smile skimming over his face, "Mustang asked if I wanted to train to be a Diplomat, seemed to think I would be a natural."

Al hid a small laugh behind his hand, and Ed outright cackled.

"Central is doomed, now all three of us are working for the government!" Al laughed loudly, and the three of them soon had matching grins.

~~.~~

Unfortunately for every other country out there, Mustang had been right when he said Allen would be a good diplomat.

Scratch that. He wasn't just good, he was downright terrifying.

The years spent playing the crowd, cheating at cards, and getting into all sorts of trouble just to weasel his way out with his charms and wit had paid off brilliantly. His alchemy was also a great boon to his work. Allen had set up a large network of transmutation circles for his travels, in his office, in his apartment in Central, in a small storage locker, his safe house, even one near Winry's place. He didn't always need the circles, but it was easier for him to focus on places that had the designs already up.

He had even taken a small room of his apartment, and filled it with all sorts of items, food, water, paper, chalk, medicine, bandages, anything he could think of. The room was all one gigantic circle, and was connected to the small suitcase that Allen brought with him everywhere.

Meaning he never had to wait to go back to Amestris to talk about new legislation, or signing documents.

When he wasn't causing international chaos, Allen worked on fixing the economic side of things in Amestris.

Or, he had walked into the finances department, torn in apart in less than a day, and rebuilt it so it could function at the best capacity.

His Sensei's lessons finally paid off.

When he wasn't working, Allen tried to explore as much of his new world as he possibly could. He had pulled up a large map, and decided that his next destination would be the ruins of Xerxes, where alchemy was said to have been created.

Which led to his current predicament

~~.~~

Allen sat at the fire, slowly cooking a humongous bowl of soup. He and his companion had already eaten five bowls each, but it seemed that they had a shared appetite, so Allen just kept serving them up.

The person across from him had medium length black hair, tied up in a high ponytail, with spiky bangs hanging down in front of his face. He was wearing white pants, and a yellow shirt that was open at the front. He also had a sword strapped to his side, and seemed like he would be very interesting to meet in a fight.

He was also very hungry.

It was after the eleventh bowl that Allen's unnamed guest leaned back with a contented sigh, his eyes seemingly forever crinkled up, and a wicked, similar, smile crossed his face.

"Thank you my friend! I am Ling Yao, and I am in your debt for this meal," the man bowed, and Allen got a distinct feeling that back his old world Ling would have been from somewhere in Asia.

"Ah, no problem, really, and my name is Allen Walker," Allen smiled brightly, unconsciously echoing the same smile staring back at him.

"What are you doing out here, though, in the ruins of Xerxes, especially if you don't have food or water?" Allen asked, and the other man grinned.

Ling gave out a small laugh, "Oh, I'm looking for something you see, and this place is going to help me find it." He leaned forward, and his eyes opened staring straight at Allen with an unbridled fire.

"Have you heard of the Philosopher's Stone?"


	2. Stalkers and Ishvallans

"Nope, never heard of it!" Allen grinned widely, his eyes crinkling.

Silence echoed around them, the desert winds picked up in that moment to blow through Allen's small camp site. Neither Allen nor Ling moved, and the whistling wind rustled Allen's hair.

Ling nodded, seemingly to himself, and then let out a small sigh, "You wouldn't be lying to me now, would you?" As he snapped his fingers, Allen was already moving back, dancing away from a sharp metal instrument that had nearly been thrust under his chin.

He twisted around in the sand, drawing a semicircle with his foot, and carefully dodged a long blade as well. He jumped back and landed in a crouch, taking a quick look at his surrounding.

Two people were standing on Ling's sides, one holding a kunai, the other a sword.

Ling smirked, and then waved a hand, stilling the two figures for a moment, "So, do you have something to tell me?"

Allen shrugged carefully from his position, keeping his eyes trained on the three people in front of him, "No, not really, and honestly, why would I tell someone who just sent his people after me, especially if he didn't tell me why he wanted a fictional item."

Ling laughed, and an evil smile appeared, "I want to achieve immortality."

Allen rolled his eyes, and gave out a small huff, "Of course you do. Well, too bad, I have no information for you. Now as I fed you, I think it would be lovely if you called off your guard dogs..." Allen trailed off, and then a large smirk covered his face as well, "or I can do it myself, if I must."

Allen moved at the same time as his two opponents, rolling to the side as a barrage of knives fell around where he had been crouched before. In the near twilight light, the two he was fighting were almost impossible to see, but Allen had fought with worse odds before. He breathed calmly as he watched twisting and dodging each strike.

Allen rushed forward after the taller figure came to close with the knife, and his punch barely missed their face. He twisted around them, and slid down to the ground to dodge the sword.

"You know, it is quite rude to be fighting two against one," A devilish grin crossed his face, and Allen clapped his hands, bending to the side to place them on the back of the taller figure, making them disappear.

"What?" Ling stood up shocked from where he had been sprawled watching the fight.

The other fighter also froze for a moment, his sword posed and pointed directly at Allen's torso.

Allen's Cheshire grin widened even further, "Oh, don't worry, they are fine, just not here at the moment," he then lunged forward at the man with the sword, acting on the offensive.

The man jumped back with a low curse, and pulled something out of his pocket, as he threw it forward, Allen was already clapping his hands together, and then he vanished.

Without a sound or light, Allen re-appeared directly behind Ling, and watched as the flash bomb went off.

"That would have been unfortunate," Allen grinned, but dodged back as Ling had immediately pulled out his sword and held it steady.

"That is an interesting ability," Ling's eyes were open, and calculating, "I haven't seen much alchemy before, but I have never heard of anything like what you are doing...especially without a circle."

Allen grinned, and shrugged, listening to the quiet footsteps that were trying to sneak up on him from behind.

He jumped up just as the person he had sent away came back, and twisted to land behind them.

A sword entered his vision, and Allen raised his left arm, and the clang of metal versus metal filled the void.

Ling's brow twitched, but he didn't show any other tells of surprise, and he pulled his sword back before attacking again.

Allen grimaced at the thought of the three on one fight, and also at the fact that his attackers weren't actually trying to kill him, mainly to stop him.

He dodged one blade, and then another, and managed to move out of the way as a second flash bomb went off.

As he moved, he also noticed something in the distance, and hid a smile.

~~.~~

Ling had been around the ruins of Xerxes for some time when he felt the strangest Qi in his life. It was human, but had the faint edge of...something. It came as just his luck when that strange person was the one to help him when he had gotten hungry.

The person had to be around his age, with startling bright silver hair that gleamed in the dusk, and grey eyes. He had some kind of strange red marking over his left eye, but it only made his face stand out even more.

Ling had never seen anyone like him, no race could be explained for this strange being that was in front of him. The hair maybe could pass as Ishvalan, but it wasn't pure white. They eyes were completely unique.

Maybe this person, Allen, had the answers that he needed.

And he had certainly lucked out, the second after Ling asked his question, he knew that Allen knew something. But he was used to the game as well, which was extremely thrilling.

Of course, he wanted Allen to tell him more, but with this kind of opponent it was best to incapacitate them before looking for answers, even then, it might not work out.

After Fu and Lan Fan had attacked Allen, Ling could appreciate the fight that was happening.

The way the other boy moved showed a swiftness and cunning that could match his own in a true fight.

He wasn't even trying to land hits, just dodging what was being thrown at him.

It was amusing, until Allen clapped, and Lan Fan disappeared.

The disappearance, in and of itself, was unsettling, but even more so was the energy that radiated off of him when he clapped.

It was drawing on some kind of energy, different from what Ling had felt from every other alchemist and alkahestry user.

It was much more powerful, a small channel holding back an ocean.

Before, the boy had been interesting.

Now?

Now, he was positively compelling.

Ling needed to know more.

~~.~~

Ling stepped forward after yet another flash bomb went off, but stopped as he felt a large group of people headed his direction. He held up a hand, and Lan Fan and Fu froze as well. Ling turned to face the crowd who was approaching, and internally flinched at the large group of Ishvalan refugees who stood nearby, weapons at the ready.

"What do you think you are doing?" A man called out from the front of the crowd, a gun held steady before him.

Ling held up his hands in mock surrender, "Ahaha, no worries, I just got into a small fight with a friend."

Another man scoffed, and motioned with his gun towards Ling, making Lan Fan fidget, "Doesn't look like a small fight to me, you three need to step away from the kid."

Ling frowned, and glanced over at Allen shock passing over his face quickly.

Before there had stood an accomplished fighter who hadn't even been hit once, his clothes in perfect order, and not a smudge of dirt on his face.

Now there was a trembling child sprawled backwards on the sand, blood splattered on the side of his face, clothes a mess and disarrayed, arms shaking slightly while supporting his weight.

Ling motioned, and Fu and Lan Fan backed off, allowing some of the Ishvalans to move around them, and help Allen to his feet, dragging him back towards the group. The rest had kept their weapons steady on the Xingese.

"You will be leaving now," the man who had spoken first motioned with his gun, pointing away from them, "Don't come back."

Ling nodded agreeably, and the three moved back as the crowd moved back towards from whence they came.

As Ling watched them go, he noticed that Allen had looked back, and a large smirk crossed the silveret's face.

Allen then winked, and walked away in the safety of a large group of people supposedly protecting a poor innocent victim.

As soon as the group was out of hearing range, Ling began to laugh.

He had been completely and utterly played.

But the game was far from over.

~~.~~

Allen was sitting in front of a large fire, his dirty clothes covered with a borrowed tunic as he sat back and watched his surroundings with interest.

The only Ishvalan he had ever met had been Scar, who had apparently hadn't even considered himself from Ishval anymore.

Allen looked around him at the small encampment that was hidden in between the dunes, pillars sticking up out of the encasing sand as small markers that once upon a time something once stood tall and proud. A small oasis was nearby, dates and small palm fronds dotting the shore. Further from the oasis pavilions were set up, stretching over rugs and carpets that had many people sitting around them. Past those seemed to be personal tents, ranging from being able to hold families, to small personal shelters.

The pavilions were done in tan and brown colors, but everything was accented with bright reds, blues, and golds, giving the entire area a warm feeling.

An old woman approached the place near where Allen sat, causing him to stand. She gave him a toothless smile at his low bow, and gestured for him to sit.

"It seems you got into some trouble, boy," the woman grinned, and Allen shrugged one shoulder, a sheepish smile appearing.

"Yes, thank you," He gestured around to the people surrounding him, "It was...unfortunate, and probably wouldn't have ended well if the fighting had continued."

The woman nodded, and then gestured to his face, that still had a light spray of blood, "Do you need your injuries tended to? The one on your head seems small, but if there are others..."

Allen smiled, fully this time, and spoke, "No, thank you though, I was only roughed up by that point, they didn't seem intent on causing too much harm."

A man spoke out from nearby, his voice stern, "Why were they attacking you? That seemed a very strange place for a fight to take place."

Allen ran his hand through his long ponytail, and let out a small sigh, "They wanted me to answer a question that I don't have the answers to, and even if I did, I wouldn't." A small smirk crossed his face, "Too bad for them."

The woman held up a hand, stopping a flood of questions. She looked down at Allen, and then to his pocket, and held out her hand.

Allen sighed and then nodded, and pulled out his pocket watch, making the surrounding people take a step back with alarm.

"Don't," she called out to the crowd, as some had moved to get there weapons.

She took her time looking over the watch, and traced the design on the front with her thumb.

"You are a State Alchemist, and yet...you do not seem Amestrian, I would have thought you one of Ishval's children, but that is not correct either, is it?"

She handed him back the watch, and Allen nodded, "Yes, I am a State Alchemist, but at the moment that...title is going through some changes. I actually act as a foreign diplomat, and the focus of my alchemy is travelling. I'm...from very far away, but I ended up in Amestris when I was travelling with some friends from there."

"Friends?" She gestured for him to continue, and Allen grinned.

"Have you heard of Edward Elric? The Fullmetal Alchemist?" Allen smiled wider as a ripple of conversation went through the crowd.

"I heard he was dead?" a small child spoke out, and moved forward to the front of the crowd.

Allen shook his head, "No, he was stuck in a place far away, and it took him a long time to get back."

"The same place as where you came from," the woman stated, but Allen nodded anyway.

"You work directly under the Flame Alchemist, then, " the man who had spoken before was standing tall, but his shoulders were hunched slightly, holding himself back.

Allen looked at him with sad eyes, "No. I work for Roy Mustang. Not a tool of war. I..." Allen fumbled for words, and bit his lip, and then exhaled.

"Where I came from, I was stuck in a never ending war..." his mind raced to that horrible day in Edo, and his voice turned whisper quiet, yet could still be heard in the surrounding darkness.

"Millions of people, killed with one attack...and who knows how many were killed before that...so many friends..." Allen shook his head, and then looked up at the man.

"I hadn't heard of Fuhrer Mustang before I came here, or the Ishval war, so I can never say I know what you experienced. But I do know war. And I know for a fact that I would never follow a tool of war, a warmonger, or someone who didn't care for the people that he is trying to lead."

Allen stood up straighter, and his voice became firm and loud, "I follow him, because he has a future for Amestris that takes it away from the past, without forgetting the atrocities that the state has committed. Did you know he is trying to take it away from a military run government? And that he has been trying for months to find a representative for the Ishvalans to make plans to help rebuild and give back land?"

He leaned back a bit, and looked up at the stars that began to dot the sky, "I know...I know it never makes up for the lives that have been lost, but this change...it is good. I believe that it will be good, and that is why I follow him."

Silence surrounded him, and Allen slowly felt a flush creep over his face.

The old woman across from him let out a small laugh, "So young, and so wise. Child, what is your name?"

Allen started, and his flush rouged, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Allen Walker."

"A good name,strong, and full of purpose. I am Tzofiya." At these words another rush of whispered conversation went through the crowd, making Allen look around with confusion.

"To our people, names are a very sacred thing," Tzofiya spoke, "That I am giving you mine means that I hold you to a great deal of respect, but that would only be fair, after all."

"I, Thank you, I...what do you mean?" Allen stumbled over his words, causing Tzofiya to give out a loud laugh.

"Well, you said it yourself, you are a diplomat. I would like it if you would work with us and the nation of Amestris, I believe we met for just this reason."

Allen stared, wide eyed, at her, and he could feel the rest of the Ishvalans giving her similar looks.

"I, I am honored that you would think me acceptable...I just...I have no knowledge of your culture, or the Ishvalan war...I don't think that I would be an appropriate..." Allen trailed off as the man next to Tzofiya nodded.

"You do not know the war, or the propaganda that was used against Ishval's children. You can learn about both sides, from your Fuhrer and from us, and our culture," the man nodded in the woman's direction again, "I agree with this choice.

Small rumbles of assent came from the crowd, and Allen eyes widened.

"Then, I would be honored to accept this position, " Allen bowed deeply at the waist.

~~.~~

The next morning Allen woke with the predawn light, stretching out under the canvas of the borrowed tent.

He had spent the rest of the night talking with Tzofiya and Fahim, the man who had spoken up, about the Ishvalan culture, and how he could work as their emissary to the Amestrian government.

He had gotten a small pile of books, and placed them gently in his small suitcase. After staying up until far after the moon had risen, Fahim had showed him a tent he could use while he stayed.

Allen exited the tent with a stretch, and noted that no one else had awoken yet. He stretched his muscles, and began to work through his morning routine.

He was stretching his automail arm backwards when he noticed the child from the night before watching him with wide eyes.

The child noticed his gaze, and fidgeted, before darting forward, "How do you do that! You bent almost in half!"

Allen let out a little laugh, "Mm, I used to work in a circus, so I had to be very flexible, and then I learned how to fight, and since I am not very large, I have to use my speed and flexibility so I can win."

The boy nodded, eyes alight with fire, "Yeah! Like how my cousin is much bigger than me, but I can move faster, so when we play he can never catch me!"

Allen nodded, and then a stray thought whirled through his mind, "Would you like to join me? I am winding down, so you should be able to do some of these exercises as well."

The boy let out a huff of excitement and jittered in place, and then moved to stand next to Allen.

Allen moved slowly, and showed him how to stretch and test his muscles through the cool down.

Allen then stretched both his hands over his head, and relaxed.

The boy had a small sheen of sweat over his face, but his excitement was still palpable, but now it was tempered with intrigue.

Allen gave him a questioning look, and the boy flushed.

"Is that...is that automail? I've heard about it, but I've never seen it..."

Allen nodded, and sat down, the boy moving closer once he saw Allen stretching out his left arm.

"Yes, a friend of mine made it for me, and it is very useful."

"Why do you need it!"

"Valence!" A startled tone broke through the quiet, and Allen was surprised to see a small group of people, children and adults standing nearby.

"That was rude, please excuse him," a woman, most likely Valence's mother, strode forward, but Allen just smiled.

"No, it's fine, no problem," Allen then turned to Valence who was looking down at the ground.

"Where I come from, we don't have alchemy," Allen started, and soon the small group that had been standing at a distance approached and sat around them.

Valence's eyes were riveted on Allen's face.

"None, none whatsoever?" A teenage spoke up.

"Nope, we have something different though, and only certain people could use it. It was called innocence. People could use it as a weapon against...demons. My innocence was in fact my left arm. I used to be able to turn it into a sword."

Allen grinned at the awed noises from the children, and the questioning looks from the adults.

"Thing is, is that we defeated all the demons, so the weapons weren't needed anymore, so they were taken away," Allen let out a wistful sigh, " so I needed a new left arm."

He held his hand out to Valence, and allowed him to move the fingers around, and bend it to look at it.

"You fought, you said so as well yesterday, but you are so young! Not even of age!" Valence's mother spoke out, and Allen shrugged.

"People were dying, and I could help them. Why wouldn't I?"

Then a small smile broke over Allen's face, and he gently took his arm back.

"Hey, do you want to learn how to juggle?"

~~.~~

Allen left the small village after three more days, spending the mornings with the Ishvalans, playing around and learning as much as he could about the actual people, and the evenings with Tzofiya and Fahim, learning how to read Ishvalan and the more intricate cultural works.

He had basic understanding of the formation of the language, and a small book used to teach children the language, and a promise to come back soon.

He asked permission, and was able to set up an array to allow for transportation near the back of the pavilion, after showing how he used it, of course.

He walked to the outskirts of the village, and clapped his hands, focusing on a circle he had placed in a unknown back alley in Esfakot.

He appeared in the alley and exited to the main city road, strolling along until he found a small cafe to get some breakfast.

He was finishing up his last plate of eggs, when an unfortunately familiar person sat down across from him.

"Ah, what a lovely surprise, seeing you again!" Ling beamed at him, and Allen stared at him, deadpan.

"Now, now. I think we got off on the wrong foot!" Ling's beaming smile hadn't even twitched with Allen's stare, "As I said before, I'm Ling Yao, twelfth in line for the throne of Xing."

Ling waved his hand, and his two guards appeared again, standing behind him, except this time without the masks.

"This is Lan Fan," Ling gestured to the young girl to his right, "And Fu." he swept his gesture to the left.

Allen was mildly shocked to see that the person he had previously fought had been a girl, but shrugged it off and gestured to the table.

"Please, have a seat," Allen smiled, and the two looked to Ling before grabbing chairs from a neighboring table and sitting down.

Allen stared at Ling's smiled for a time, before shaking his head, "I was telling you the truth before, you know. I know nothing about the Philosopher's stone, except that it seems to only bring pain."

Ling waved his hand, as if banishing the thought, "That isn't why I'm here, or well," his eyes opened and he stared at Allen, "Not, all of why I'm here. Before you asked why I needed it, and I feel your help would be invaluable."

Allen shook his head,"Look, immortality isn't..it doesn't seem like a good thing, I won't help you get it."

"But what if the immortality wasn't for me?" Ling questioned, leaning forward slightly, hands clasped in front of him.

Allen stared at Ling for a moment, "Dare I ask who it is for?"

Ling's demeanor changed, in a manner that Allen was well acquainted with.

"As I said before, I am the twelfth in line out of forty-nine for the Xingese throne, The Liege of the Yao clan. The Emperor of Xing is ill, and has asked all of the possible heirs to search for something to keep him alive."

Allen nodded, understanding dawning, "So if you find the stone, or something that can lead to immortality, you would be in his favor."

Ling smiled, still serious, "Exactly."

"But why would you?" Allen sat back in his seat, looking back and forth from the three's faces, "If you make him immortal, you will never be Emperor, or at least, that is what I am thinking you want?"

Ling shook his head, "Even the possibility of immortality will put me, put my clan in a position of favor. There are over 500,000 Yao clansmen who are depending on me, and I will not fail them."

Lan Fan, twitched forward, and a grimace crossed over her face, "My lord..."

Ling suddenly switched from his deadly serious attitude, to his beaming smile, "Which is why I have decided to follow you!"

Allen's froze in his seat.

"WHAT?!"


	3. Letter to the Ed-itor

Edward Elric, Lieutenant Colonel, Personal adviser to the Fuhrer, Alchemical savant, the People's Alchemist, Hero of the People,The Fullmetal Alchemist, and general dogsbody, was bored.

Extremely bored.

He let out a long, tired sigh as he tilted back in his chair, his feet propped up next to a pile of paperwork on his desk.

He tilted his head back to look out the window, and growled at the sun that was in the same place the last time he looked.

"Chief, no matter how many times you sigh, time won't move any faster," Havoc spoke as he walked in, a sly smile on his face.

Edward halfheartedly glared at him, and then looked at the papers he was carrying, and growled "Unless those are papers saying I have an actual mission, and am not stuck at this desk all day, you better run."

Havoc sidled back to the door, "Actually...these are for something else, but the Fuhrer wants to see you so..." Havoc slipped out the door, and Ed could hear his running footsteps scurrying down the halls.

Ed growled again, and got to his feet, eyes narrowing as he walked down the hallway to where the Bastard sat, laying in wait.

He slammed open the door, and glared at the man, who had a small smirk on his face.

"What."

Mustang's smirk widened, and Ed glared.

"Sorry to call you on such short notice-," Mustang began, and Ed clapped his hands, about to jump forward, when a shot rang out, barely missing Ed's hair, Mustang and Ed both froze, slowly turning to see what lay in wait.

"No," Riza was sat at her desk, not even looking at them.

Ed quickly nodded, and gently closed the door behind him, while Roy folded his hands in front of him to hide the shaking.

They both sat in the quiet, until finally Ed couldn't take it anymore, and flopped down onto one of the chairs in the room.

"So wadda you want?" He leaned back, and glared at Mustang, not a dissimilar position to the one he had been lounging in in his office.

Mustang grimaced, and a serious tone filled his eyes. He opened a desk drawer, and pulled out a large folder, and tossed it to Ed.

Ed immediately began to flip through pages, and a grimace crossed his face, "Drachma?"

Mustang nodded, "They are doing something, there is a lot of movement going on behind their borders. We have an armistice at the moment, but..." he trailed off. Ed hadn't needed him to continue anyway.

"You going to send a diplomat first?" Ed spoke, and then his eyes widened, "oh, that's why."

Mustang nodded, "We both know who the best person to deal with this situation would be, which is why I'm giving this to you. I know that you will make sure that nothing fishy is going on, and if it is, well, I hardly expect you will send Allen into a bad situation." He gave a slight smirk as he finished, and Ed puffed out a breath.

"Who even says Allen is going to do it, he might say no!" Ed grumbled, though even as he said that he knew those words were false.

Allen enjoyed being a diplomat...a bit too much.

Especially when he could pull out all of his...knowledge.

Ed then quietly despaired in his chair, while Mustang looked on with an air of content amusement.

"How are they?" Mustang spoke after a time, having returned to his own paperwork while Ed began his cursory reading of the file.

"Good, got a letter from Al last week, he is fantastic, he has been working with a Xingese Alchemist to try to combine Alchemy and Alkahestry..." Ed smirked, and Roy raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Oh nothing," Ed's eyes glinted, "Except that more than half of his letter was about the Xingese girl he was working with rather than the alchemy..."

Mustang hid a chuckle behind his gloved hand, "I guess Al will be the next Elric to settle down..."

Ed glared, "What did you say you bastard?"

Mustang smiled an innocent grin, "Oh, nothing, though, is Miss Rockbell in town anytime soon?"

Ed grumbled, and then ran a hand over his hair, "...this weekend."

Mustang continued to grin, and the only reason Ed didn't punch him in his smug face is because Hawkeye's warning was still flitting about his head.

"And what about Allen?"

Ed shrugged, "He should be sending a letter any time now, literally."

Allen had carved a small transportation circle into the bottom of Ed's desk, so he didn't even have to wait to send letters or notes back to him.

It was very useful.

Mustang nodded, and then waved his hand, "The Drachma reports and information will be your next mission until this situation has been handled. Know that it is of the highest priority."

Ed jumped out of his seat, and gave Mustang a half hearted salute, "Yeah, yeah, got it."

He then left the room, nodding to Hawkeye as he went.

He went to sit back down in his seat, when the telltale crackle of Alchemy sounded from his desk.

He grinned as he pulled out Allen's most recent letter.

~~.~~

Mustang stretched his arm, bringing it straight up over his head, and breathed out a sigh.

Changing the government was a lot of work...luckily now it was easier to push off the stupid paperwork onto other people...

He began to stand, thinking that it was about time for him to take his lunch break, when the sound of a large stampede hurtled up the corridor, and his door smacked into the wall.

He stared at the massively disheveled Fullmetal Alchemist looked back at him, and could only look at him blankly when he began to speak

"Aerugo!" Ed yelled, and twitched where he stood, even attracting Riza's concern.

"Excuse me?" Roy was completely bewildered.

"I need...Aerugo, Allen!" Ed breathed out harsh gasps, and Mustang inched back as he felt a malevolent aura fill the room.

"Is Allen alright?" Riza walked forward, and took the piece of paper from Ed's hand.

Her eyes skimmed over the first few lines.

Then she froze.

Mustang was starting to get apprehensive, when she suddenly snorted, and handed the paper over to Mustang.

So he began to read.

Dear Ed,

I just finished traveling to Xerxes, it is amazing! You would probably love it! There are some old marking of some kind of circle here, I've never seen anything like it. I got into a bit of a fight, but am completely fine, in fact, when I come back, I have some amazing news for you and the Fuhrer!

How are you and Winry doing? I got a letter from her last week, and her business seems to be booming.

Is it just me, or do you think Al is completely smitten with May Chang? I really want to meet her, and her panda.

Please don't bully the "minions" ( as you most eloquently put it) too much. Well, at least without me. If you do, then when I come back, they will be used to it, which is no fun.

...and, so, purely hypothetically speaking, if -there were some scratched out words on the parchment before it continued-if you had a stalker...how would you deal with them...

This is just for hypothetical reasons, and no cause for concern. And even if there was a stalker per say, they wouldn't be very dangerous...well, ok no, they would be capable of being dangerous...and maybe have bodyguards and be part of Xingese royalty, but not a danger to me...you know, if they existed, what would you do?

Anyway, I'm headed to Aerugo before I come back, stay safe! Don't make Mustang go too insane!

-Allen

Mustang stared at the paper for a few seconds after he read it, then bit his lip. His shoulders started to tremble, and a rough noise barked out of his mouth.

He then nearly bent over sideways, arm latched onto the back of a chair as he began to laugh. Hard.

His laughter apparently had allowed Riza to join in the mirth, as she turned her back to him, her shoulders shaking as she tried to suppress her laughter.

Ed glared from one to the other, and grabbed the paper out of Roy's hand.

"Fine, I will deal with this myself!" Ed stomped out of the room, growling as Roy yelled out ,"No Aerugo, Ed," and then succumbed to laughter once again.

He always enjoyed having the Elric's around, it never got dull.

~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~

Allen sat in front of a roaring fire, a bemused look on his face as Lan Fan sat in a nearby tree, and Fu watched with concern as Ling cooked dinner.

What had happened to his life?

Allen could admit, to himself, that it was nice travelling with other people. He always had fun, no matter where he traveled, but being by himself and travelling with others were two different of others...

Allen clapped his hands, making Ling look up at him, and then Ling's eyes widened as Timcanpy appeared from the small circle inscribed in the ground.

"What is that?" Lan Fan spoke from above, apparently the strange creature knocking her out of her habitual silence.

Allen grinned, and scratched Tim's wing, "This is Timcanpy, he is a golem, and a good friend of mine."

Tim stretched his wings, and began to fly lazily around the campfire, causing Allen to smile.

Tim then landed on Ling's shoulder, and bit into his ponytail.

"Huh," Allen looked on as Ling stared at the strange creature attached to his hair, "he usually only does that to Ed."

Fu watched Tim, obviously deciding if he was a threat, but backed down as Ling shrugged, and began to stir the rice.

"I've never seen anything like him, where did you get him?" Ling asked.

Allen let out a small sigh, and suddenly Timcanpy was trying to burrow into his shoulder.

"Back...back where I came from. It's very far away."

Ling stilled in his stirring and looked up, "Oh, and will you be headed back there soon? It must be very interesting."

Allen gave him a small smile, "No, it is too far away to go back, and I like it here, so..." he trailed off and shrugged, looking into the sky with so many different constellations.

After dinner (which was surprisingly good) Allen sat down with his back against a log, and was looking up at the sky.

He heard the rustling of clothes as Ling settled down within arm's reach, but continued to gaze upward.

Ling stayed quiet for a time, and Allen relaxed back even further into his slouch.

"It is rare to see a fighter as strong as yourself, especially for one so young, " Ling's voice broke the silence after a time, but he spoke in a whisper as to not destroy it.

"I'm not young,I'm nearly 17" Allen spoke, "and I have been fighting for a very long time..." He then looked over at Ling, "Wait, how old are you?"

Ling smiled, "I am 17, seems like I am older, and this the wiser of us-ow," he fake grimaced as Allen bopped him over the head, but then smiled and looked back up at the sky.

"I could say the same of you," Allen spoke after another long silence.

Ling nodded, "Yes. But I learned to fight because many assassins came after me, and those I cared for because of me, and I needed to defend myself, and protect everyone."

"Then it seems...we had very similar reasons," Allen whispered to the sky.

"Oh?" Ling's voice was heavy with intrigue, " You had people after you as well? Were you royalty from where you came from?"

Allen let out a rolling laugh, and smirked, "No, no far from it, I was an orphan, no one important...but I had an ability that a lot of people thought was useful, so I had to find a way to defend myself. And the people who were after me were after a lot of other people as well, so we ended up fighting a lot."

Ling had obviously perked up at the mention of an ability, but when Allen didn't continue, he settled back down.

"Have you heard the story of the race, and the cat that didn't finish?" Ling began, and started to explain as he pointed up to the skies.

~~.~~

"So!" Ling bounced next to Allen, "I've been meaning to ask for a while, but where are we going?"

Allen nearly face planted, and he heard a small dejected, "My lord..." from nearby.

"Well, I'm going to Aerugo to see the ocean, I have no idea where you are going, aren't you supposed to be on a quest?" Allen looked over at the other teen, who shrugged.

"I have a feeling that everything lies in the same way, and I have always wanted to see the ocean!" Ling grinned again, and walked forward towards the small town in the distance.

Allen raised an eyebrow, but shrugged, and began to follow.

"Mr. Walker," Fu spoke from behind him, and Allen stopped, and turned to face him.

"Yes?"

Fu looked him up and down, and then gave a slight nod, "It is rare to see the young lord so truthfully exuberant."

Allen nodded, and waited for the man to continue.

Fu let out a small breath, "I ask that you continue to allow the young lord with you on your journey, he has not had an easy life, and has taken up a large burden for his age."

Allen gave him a sincere smile, "I believe I completely understand what you mean..." Allen then out a tired sigh, but his smile remained, " As long as there aren't any problems between us, I don't see why he can't travel together for now, it is nice to have company again."

Fu nodded, but it was mostly drowned out by a pair of arms that wrapped around Allen's shoulders, "Aw! I knew you wanted me to stay!"

Allen twitched in Ling's choke hold, and then catapulted forward, rolling, to cause Ling to flip over his back.

Instead of ramming straight first into the ground, Ling landed lightly on his feet and beamed at Allen.

Allen groaned, but then just shook his head, and continued to walk to the town, making a light conversation with Lanfan, and ignoring the increasingly petulant Xingese noble behind him.

~~.~~

Crossing the border into Aerugo had been...eventful.

Meaning that Allen got through quite easily, being an international diplomat had it's noteworthy points.

Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu...well, it ended up that they hadn't even entered into Amestris legally, so they ditched Allen at the border, and Ling cheerfully told Allen that they would catch up on the other side.

Allen was 100% certain that they would indeed meet up, and 73% certain that Ling and company would be followed by a mountain of guards.

He gave out a heavy sigh, and continued to walk down the busy streets, looking about at the hotels and shops that lined the main road of the small border town of Brennero.

Allen wandered around for a bit, before settling down in a park, and looking around as the night life began to peek out of hiding.

Which is of course when trouble struck.

"Hey, you fucker, what are you doing in our turf," a young adult stood directly in front of Allen, looking down at him with a smirk.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, Marco, maybe he meant to be here, I mean look at him," another man walked up, and Allen tensed at the lecherous smirk on his face.

The previous man, Marco, slowly looked up and down Allen's body, spending and inappropriate amount of time below the belt, before he began to smirk as well.

"Ah, I see now, came out here to have a little fun, didn't you?" Marco began to walk closer.

Allen's face contorted into a devil's smile, and he grabbed the outstretched arm that was headed towards a highly inappropriate place.

"Yes," Allen glared, tightening his hold on the older man's hand, his automail adding almost enough force to break bones, "fun."

He grabbed the man's arm with both hands, and dragged it down, contorting his body and smashing in the man's face with his knee.

A gurgle sounded from before him, and Allen whirled around to deal with the other, but soon found that he was face down on the ground, a sword held at his throat, and an extremely pissed off Ling holding him down.

Lan Fan and Fu appeared as well, dragging out three more bodies from the bushes, where they had apparently been waiting.

Allen nodded, and began to stand when two hands tightened around his arms.

"Are you alright? Ling asked, scanning him over.

Allen smiled, and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine..." he looked over at the men lying on the ground with a smirk, "I've lived on the streets for a while, you get used to dealing with this kind of stuff."

He stopped or a moment, and his face twitched into a thoughtful frown at the remembrance of his many eventful years on the streets, before he straightened his face back into the devil's smirk.

"Say, do you want to string them up in front of the police station? I bet you could do it without being caught?" Allen grinned, and grabbed the man he had knocked unconscious as well, and began to drag him along.

He didn't notice Ling's narrow eyed look of scrutiny at his back.


	4. Aerugo, Amestris, and Drachma

Ling watched as Allen stood with his toes in the surf, a bright smile on his face, and seeming to have completely forgotten the events of the night before. After Lan Fan, Fu, and Allen had finished...presenting their ...victims... to the police, Allen had gotten them into a relatively high class hotel a bit further from the center of town.

"Diplomatic privileges!" Allen had grinned, and waved them off to head to his own room.

Ling had been watching him that entire time for signs of shock, or maybe repressed emotion, but it honestly seemed like what had happened the previous day had no effect on him whatsoever. That coupled with the few sentences about his background had Ling in a contemplative mood.

"My Lord, is something wrong?" Lan Fan spoke from next to him, and he shook himself out of his melancholy.

He smiled his wide eyed smile, even while knowing it wouldn't fool her, "Of course not!"

~~.~~

Allen was relaxing back in the sand, after having successfully transmuted water to soak Ling, and was enjoying the warm sun.

"Well, I must say I am surprised to see you here, Manifold Alchemist!" A voice that he knew, but could not place ran out from above him.

Allen sat up, shading his face with his flesh arm, and then gracefully got to his feet, giving the man before him a firm handshake.

"Minister Lagorio, I wasn't expecting to see you here, though I guess that is roughly more likely than me being here, but the beaches in Aerugo are the best,after all," Allen smiled, and the Minster grinned at the compliment.

"Of course, no where will you find better, and you don't have any in poor Amestris, I hope you are enjoying your stay?" the Minister smiled and looked out at the ocean.

"I ran into some unfortunate souls yesterday, but otherwise this trip has been wonderful," Allen smirked, and Minister Lagorio raised an amused eyebrow.

"Ah, yes, get the fun in while you can..." he trailed off and his face contorted into concern, "Especially with the situation that is brewing."

Allen stilled, "I'm sorry, I have been on vacation for the past month, what situation are you talking about?"

The minister grimaced, and looked over his shoulder, before stepping closer to Allen, "I've been hearing...rumors, about Drachma, apparently they have decided to try another talk with Amestris about the Armistice, and making it a full blown peace but...I highly doubt that is the case."

Allen nodded, thinking back on past talks with Drachma and flinched, "Yes...it really does not seem likely. It may be best if I head back to Amestris sooner than I thought, tensions between the two countries have always been...violent. On that note, doesn't Aerugo have an alliance with Drachma?"

The Minister shook his head with a small smile, "Words only, nothing more, we are so far separated that there is truly no point in setting up any kind of system between us two. It was more for the use of back when King Bradley the Warmonger was in charge."

Allen nodded agreeably, and then shifted as a warm presence sidled up next to him, and Allen looked over to see Ling smiling widely at the Aerugean Minister.

"Hello, you must be Minister Lagorio, it is a pleasure to meet you, I'm Ling Yao," The man eye smiled, and gave the Minister a brief bow, which he returned.

"Ling Yao..." the Minister trailed off, and then a light filled his eyes, "ah yes, the twelfth in line for the Xingese throne, it is a pleasure to meet you as well, it isn't often your country men come this far."

Ling let out a laugh, "Mmm, yes, but I have been travelling with Diplomat Walker for some time, and I have always wanted to see the ocean."

The Minister gave an understanding nod, "Well then, don't let me keep you, and next time you are in Aerugo, please stop by." With a nod, he left.

Allen gave a wave, and stretched his arms over his head.

"Do you know that man well?" Ling spoke quietly next to him.

"Yes," Allen responded, "He is my major contact in Aerugo, and I usually stay at one of his manors when I am involved in talks.

Allen turned to look at Ling's face, his normal smile only halfway there.

Allen lifted an eyebrow, "What?"

Ling hummed, "His qi didn't match his expressions, he was hiding something."

Allen nodded, "Well, that does tend to happen in my line of work," he trailed off thinking back on the conversation, and grimaced, "though if he was lying about the situation, that might be...bad."

Allen let out a tired sigh, "Looks like I'm headed back early," he gave a small smile up to Ling's confused look, "Drachma is being weird, and Aerugo has an alliance with them, so if something is going on my break is over."

Allen dug his feet into the sand, and he gave one last glance to the ocean waves lapping at the shore, "Ah well, this is the most free time I've had for a while..."

"You will be going back to Amestris then?" Ling spoke quietly.

Allen shrugged, "Yeah, either tonight or early morning, I have a system of circles in between Aerugo and Amestris, so it will be an almost instantaneous trip."

Ling hummed again, "Amestris...I have heard many rumors over the past few years about Amestris, things about the stone, beings of impossible power..." he tapped his fingers against his chin, "what was the name again? Elvic...Elrics, yes, they supposedly had something to do with it."

Allen let out a bemused snort, "Don't even try getting them to talk about it, they will probably just stab you, or politely (or impolitely) tell you to 'fuck off'"

Ling raised his eyebrows, "So you know them well?"

Allen's smile stretched over his entire face, "Of course, they are my brothers after all."

~~.~~

Ling was pouting. Ling was pouting very loudly and Allen was doing his best to completely ignore it.

Ling heaved a loud sigh, staring down at the table morosely, every few seconds his eyes would flick back up to Allen, and then back down to the table with a look of utter despair.

Allen twitched after the fourth loud sigh, and clenched his fists over the documents he was reading.

Allen breathed out through his nose, and then slammed the documents on the table, "Fine! Fine! I will bring you, but I swear when Edward stabs you I will just sit there and laugh at your demise!"

Ling immediately brightened and sat back in his seat, oozing contentment.

From somewhere in the ceiling, Lan Fan let out a loud sigh.

~~.~~

Allen nodded, and wiped his hands at the lightly drawn chalk outline near the outskirts of the city. Ling was standing just outside the circle, looking at it intently.

"This is what you used on me during the fight, isn't it?" Lan Fan spoke from her perch nearby, and Allen nodded.

"Yes, it is a transportation circle, I have several all over the place and I can transfer from one to the other. There are some limits, such as how far I can travel in one time, and the amount of people I can bring, but it is a really handy tool." Timcanpy nodded in agreement, and went back to sitting idly on Allen's head.

"But when you used this before, you didn't draw a circle," Ling gestured towards the complicated diagram, and Allen shrugged, "It depends on what I want it to do, I can do it without a circle, but if I don't think of all of the variables when I form it, then we could be in trouble. So I set up actual drawn circles for the more complicated, or longer journeys."

Ling nodded, his eyes tracing over the lines, "How does it feel?"

Allen hummed, "It doesn't last long, a couple of seconds at most...it is like opening a door and stepping through."

"It was very white," Lan Fan added, and Allen nodded..

"Very well," Ling took up a noble posture, "Let us be off."

Allen rolled his eyes, and gestured for Lan Fan and Fu to join them on the circle. With a clap they were gone.

~~.~~

Allen's apartment that he had in Central was sparse, as he rarely used it, and had never really gotten used to having a space of his own. It had a large room in the back that was filled with all sorts of items that he could summon to him, and a room to the side of the entrance that had a transportation circle just for him to use. His bedroom was unadorned, except for photos of his friends, both Alchemists and Exorcists, and random books that Ed and Al thought he should read.

The echos of a clap rang out through the empty room, and the four travellers appeared in an alchemical flash.

Ling blinked as he looked around the new environment, "That was...impressive."

Allen didn't respond, and Ling looked over to see him swaying where he stood.

He reached out an arm, and grabbed Allen's shoulder, holding him steady. Allen blinked blearily up at him, and gave a small smile, "Give me a minute, had to use a lot of circles...more people than usual, had to be careful...didn't want to lose any bits."

Ling nodded, and guided Allen out of the room, following as Fu led him to an open living room, where he gently helped Allen to the couch. The minute Allen had laid down he was out like a light, startling a chuckle out of Ling

Tim flew around lazily, and landed on Ling's shoulder, munching on his ponytail, and Ling shook his head as he looked around the apartment.

"Lan Fan, Fu, I want you two to look around, normal procedure, I will be staying here for the time being," Ling ordered, and the two nodded and disappeared with the shadows.

Ling looked down as Allen snuggle deeper into the jarringly red couch, which clashed horrendously with the light blue curtains, and yellow- gold chair nearby.

Allen was breathing deeply, his hair splayed out around his face, bang tickling his nose with every breath. His feet were tucked under one of the pillows, and his legs twisted together, arms hanging loose by his sides.

Ling bent down, and reached out, running his fingers ever so gently over Allen's hair, one finger straying to barely graze over his face.

Then he was tugged back with a strong force as Tim bit and pulled at his ponytail.

Ling huffed, and retrieved his hair from the little demon, and stood back up to look around the house.

~~.~~

Allen woke, his head aching slightly, and it took him a couple moments to recognize where he was. He heaved himself to his feet with a sigh, and looked around for the crazy trio that he had brought with him...

And they had all vanished.

Allen ran a hand over his face, "Mustang is going to kill me."

"You mustn't have a functioning system if your Fuhrer is going to kill one of his head diplomats," Ling voiced from nearby, and Allen turned, and followed the voice into his bedroom.

Ling was standing in the room, looking over the pictures on the walls with a great amount of interest, Timcanpy hanging from the end of his ponytail like some kind of bauble.

Ling looked over to him, and smiled, then pointed at one of the pictures on the wall, "Are these two Xingese? I must say I have never seen that kind of uniform before...are they a special unit here?"

Allen looked over to see what Ling was pointing at and grinned, " No, Kanda and Lenalee aren't Xingese, and none of them are from around here. These are my friends from back where I came from."

Ling nodded, running a hand over the picture, "Your hair is much shorter."

Allen nodded, "I have both my arms, too."

Ling looked carefully at the picture, before turning to Allen, and looking him up and down, "Are you well now?"

Allen nodded, "It just took a lot of energy to get here...by the way, where are Lan Fan and Fu?"

Ling smiled, and said nothing.

Allen sighed.

"Well then, I need to go to talk to Fuhrer Mustang and Edward..." he trailed off and looked at Ling.

"I believe I shall spend the rest of the day...exploring Central," Ling smiled broadly.

Allen let out a sigh, "Just don't collapse by the side of the road because of starvation, the police will pick you up and throw you in jail."

"Ah, but I know you would get me out, Allen," Ling grinned, and Allen grumbled as he left his apartment.

~~.~~

Ed was working through the next transmission that had been passed through from Drachma to Creta, when a knock made him look up at the door, ready to destroy whoever had stopped him from his task.

Except when he saw who it was.

"Allen!" He bolted from his seat, vaulting over his desk, and got Allen in a headlock.

"Are you alright? Where is he, this stalker, I'll kill him, why are you back so early, you were supposed to be gone until the end of the month...was it the stalker!" Ed didn't even breathe, and Allen pushed himself out of the headlock with a grunt.

"I'm fine Ed," He smiled, and gave Edward a hug, which was returned immediately, and the two split apart, " I was in Aerugo when I heard about the Drachma situation, so I decided to head back early."

Ed stared and then began to glare as Allen didn't say anything else, "And the stalker?"

"Stalker?" Allen looked up at him with wide eyes, "What stalker, oh, you mean my letter about the hypothetical stalker, ahh..."

Ed's glare sharpened, and flames began to spark in the background.

"Allen."

Allen grimaced, and fidgeted from foot to foot, "We, ah traveled together for a bit, and it was fun, so um, he is in Central now? And wants to talk to you?"

The flames burst into pillars of liquid magma, "Oh, does he," Ed nearly purred, and Allen sighed, "Please don't hurt him Ed, he hasn't actually done anything."

Ed pointed at him, and yelled out "Stockholm Syndrome! What has he done! I will kill him for this!"

"Fullmetal, would you kindly shut up. Ah, Manifold Alchemist, welcome back," Mustang stood in the doorway, one eyebrow raised at the dramatic tension that filled the room.

Allen grinned, and and gave Mustang a nod, then his grin widened, and Mustang grimaced.

"I have some wonderful news for you, Fuhrer Mustang, " Allen spoke, and grabbed out some papers from his suitcase before handing them over to Mustang with a flourish.

Mustang grimaced at the sight of the papers, but then his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in an unusual display of emotion.

"I found them near Xerxes, and well," Allen gestured towards the papers with a wide grin on his face, "Good work for a vacation, right?"

Mustang looked up at him, and let out a breath, a small sad smile curving over his face, "Indeed." Mustang passed the papers to an impatient Fullmetal Alchemist, who read the first line and let out a startled noise.

"The Ishvalans? Really! This is huge...and this is with one of the matriarchs as well."

"Sometimes, I love Elric luck," Mustang grinned, and took the papers back from Ed. He suddenly switched to a much more serious expression, "But unfortunately, we have another situation to deal with at the moment."

"Drachma," Allen spoke, and Mustang nodded.

"Drachma."

~~.~~

Allen was laying on his stomach on the floor of his apartment, with a wide range of papers scattered about.

Treatises, news clippings, old laws, culture, anything he could find out about Drachma was arrayed all over the apartment.

"Were you hit by a monsoon while we were gone, Allen?" Ling spoke from where he was perched on the window sill, and Allen looked over at him, and groaned, his head hitting the carpeted floor.

"Somehow, the Drachman ambassador got word that I was back early, and so set up a meeting for tomorrow in Bindces, as they know I can get to any of the major cities easily. So I need to memorize as much as I can before I go there, don't want to cause a war because I bowed wrong," Allen puffed out a sigh, and grabbed a small book from nearby, reading over the chapter on how to address people of different stations again.

Ling frowned, "That seems quite rushed, I'm surprised that the Drachmans were able to figure out you came back so quickly."

Allen nodded, "It most likely means we have a spy somewhere, which is pissing Ed off a lot, but there is nothing we can do at the moment if we do not want to cause a problem."

Ling nodded, grimly, "Will you be going by yourself then?"

"I will meet up with some officers there, and they will be part of the proceedings as well."

Ling nodded, slowly this time," Yes...well then, I have something I need to do for the rest of the night, so I won't be seeing you again until you come back. Stay safe, be careful, remember that I shall always be here for you if you need-"

Allen slammed the window shut, causing Ling to bounce out of it, where he landed with a neat stance on the neighboring roof.

Ling chuckled, and began to make his way towards his next goal.

~~.~~

Allen sat at the far end of the table, Amestrian soldiers standing behind him on either side, and had a large group of paper stacked neatly in front of him.

The door opened, and a well dressed man, no older than forty, with brown hair that was cut short, wearing a large coat, stepped in. He handed the coat off to one of the soldiers that had walked in behind him, and moved towards the table.

Allen rose and walked over, his hand splayed over his chest as he gave the new arrival a low bow. After he straightened he spoke, "It is an honor to meet you, General Lyovkin, I'm Allen Walker, the Manifold Alchemist."

The General nodded, his eyes hard, and he held out his hand. They shook, and then the man spoke, "We have heard many stories of you and your brothers exploits, Manifold Alchemist."

Allen grinned, his eyes flashing, "Please, call me Allen." The man nodded, and Allen gestured towards the table, and they both sat down. General Lyovkin carefully ordered some papers in front of him.

He looked up, "Before we begin, might I ask you a few questions unrelated to this effort?"

Allen smiled, "Of course you may, I may be unable to answer them, however."

The man scoffed, "Of course, of course, well.."

He trailed off and looked down at a paper in front of him.

Suddenly Allen felt a shiver go down his spine, they had already started the game, but it seemed that Allen wasn't playing the right one.

"You see, we in Drachma do not use alchemy, and we have heard some strange rumors about alchemy that hasn't been seen ever before, and shouldn't exist, such as travelling from one place to another instantly."

Allen suppressed his growing urge to get the hell out of there, and smiled, "Indeed. Well,  
something new is learned by alchemist each and every day, who knows what the next break will be."

The man nodded, flipping through a few papers, before dropping them down in front of him.

"Let us stop with this foolishness, no? Manifold Alchemist," the man grinned, and Allen continued to smile, his fist clenched by his sides, "You have something we want." The man nodded, and Allen looked over to see one of the Amestrian soldiers standing behind him holding some kind of needle.

Before he could even move, it was plunged into his neck, and then everything went black.


	5. War Never Changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is torture in this chapter.

Allen woke with a spluttering cough, retching as freezing water dripped down his form. He blinked his eyes open, and grimaced as he found himself in some kind of dingy cell.

He tried to move his hands, and froze. He looked down to his left shoulder with wide eyes to find that his automail had been removed, and he was suspended in the air by his right wrist, toes barely touching the floor.

A man was seated in front of him, a cruel smile curling over his lips.

"Good afternoon, Manifold Alchemist, so glad you decided to join us," the man nearly purred, and Allen's eyes narrowed.

The man sighed, and crossed one leg over the other, "I would say I was sorry about the accommodations, but you Amestrians are always so tricky..." there the man paused, as if he was in some sort of demented play, and then tacked on, " well, if you were Amestrian, anyway, alchemists are just as much trouble, honestly."

Allen just glared at the man, not saying a word.

He let out a dramatic sigh, and stood, tracing his fingers over Allen's cheek, "We have heard so much about you, you see, your ability is...interesting...I'm surprised no one else has...picked up on the intricacies..." He moved his hand to hold on to Allen's chin, jerking his head forward, Allen didn't even move, just glared at the man.

"Ah, but you are a tough one, aren't you, trailing along after those damn Elrics, appearing out of nowhere and becoming favored by the government, a miracle child," the man's grip on Allen's chin became almost bruising.

Then, without any deliberation, the man's hand smacked across Allen's face, causing it to wrench to the side, a large red mark forming immediately.

"We are going to have so much fun, you and I," the man drawled, and Allen felt a curl of fear take up residence in his stomach.

This was not good at all.

Outwardly, though, he remained calm, and spoke for the first time, "Bravo, you have just shown that you can can attack a hostage." Allen smile darkly, then winced as a fist was planted firmly in his stomach.

"Now, now, no speaking out of turn, I ask a question and you answer, understand?" the man beamed, and Allen glared.

"I said, do you understand?" The man's voice became frigid, but Allen did not back down.

"...shame..."

There was a sound of a click, then a rippling pain buzzed through Allen's body, causing him to arch back and let out a stuttered breath as his feet danced just above the ground.

It stopped as suddenly as it began, and Allen let out a choked breath, and flinched back.

"Salt water is such a good conductor, isn't it," the man beamed, holding a sharp object that sparked with electricity in his hand, "Now, let's try this again."

~~.~~.~~.~~.~~

Ed was fast asleep, curled up on his back, shirt rucked up and exposing his stomach. A loud noise rang through his apartment, causing him to groan, and he blearily opened his eyes. He groaned again, and stood, as another loud knock rang through his house.

He got to the door and threw it open, but stopped at the shadowed look on Hawkeye's face.

"Colonel?" Edward questioned, but then stopped talking.

Hawkeye drew a breath, "We need you in the office, now..." she grimaced, and Ed was quickly becoming truly concerned, Hawkeye wasn't usually one to beat around the bush.

Her next sentence, though, stopped all of Ed's thoughts completely, "It was a trap...Drachma has taking Allen, and we don't know where he is."

~~.~~

"No." Mustang spoke, his tone harsh, but his eyes were understanding.

"No? Ed growled, "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN NO?!"

"You can't go after him Fullmetal," Mustang repeated, and Ed slammed his hand against the wall.

"THE FUCK I'M NOT GOING AFTER HIM!"

"Do you even know where he is? How far away he could have gone? The situation he is in now? This is officially war Fullmetal, we have reports of troops near the borders, thousands of them, all moved in the last 24 hours. You can't go in there and try to find him, you have no knowledge, no research, and I know for a fact that your automail would not be able to survive the temperatures," Mustang spoke, his eyes blazing.

"That doesn't matter!" Ed yelled, he shook his head so violently that his hair was flying out of a hastily made ponytail, "I'm not letting him stay there, what if they...what if they..." Ed's shoulders fell, and he collapsed back onto the couch.

Mustang stood up, and walked over to him, "We will get him back Ed, you and I both know exactly how talented he is, and how cunning. We can't help him as we are now, but we can help get to him and make this easier. Which is why I need you."

Ed looked up, and Mustang nearly flinched, Ed's eyes were almost as dead as the first time Mustang had seen him and well...

He wasn't going to let that happen again.

"I'm going to call Al back, we need him here, and I know he would kill both of us if we didn't tell him immediately," Mustang paused, and continued.

"And I need you, Fullmetal Alchemist, because we are not going to let this war even reach our borders, and we are going to get your brother back, and you are going to be in charge of that."

Ed looked up, shock filling in the blank space of his eyes, "What the fuck, bastard?"

Mustang rolled his eyes, and stood at attention, "You don't really think all of this training was for nothing, did you? You know our forces, you know how Drachmans operate, you know all of this. You want this war to end quickly and concisely with as little loss as possible. There is going to be a meeting of generals at 0800, and you will be leading them."

Ed shot up from his seat, eyes blazing, "I'm fucking 18 bastard! I'm not even...they are not even going to listen to me! I know nothing about war or any of that kind of shit!"

Mustang let out a tired sigh, and shifted, placing one of his hands on Ed's shoulder.

"You will never repeat what I am about to say, understand?" Roy spoke, his eyes lit with inner fire.

Ed raised an eyebrow.

Mustang continued, "You are a born leader, Ed, I'm honestly surprised that you have never noticed this. You make plans in the heat of the moment that go far better than any others. People listen to you, and if they don't at first, you prove to them that they should. Do you know how many people are in awe of just your name? Did you know that Generals were actually fighting over who could work with you whenever you set out those stupid messages to try to trick people into doing your own damn job? For the army, for this entire fucking nation, you are a hope, you are what they all want. The People's Alchemist Ed, that isn't just a name, it is more than that. This entire nation has known it, the last government knew it, I know it. You have so much potential, and everyone else knows it. You are more than prepared to lead, and others are more than prepared to follow."

Mustang huffed and took a step back, hiding a grin at Ed's wide eyes.

"It isn't like you will be alone anyway, I'm still the one in charge, I just need you to be one step below me in this, but that isn't so different is it?"

A fire burned in Ed's eyes, and Mustang grinned.

"Fine. I'll do it, on one condition," Ed growled, and Mustang raised an eyebrow, "if I hear anything about Allen, anything, then I am going after him."

"If it is concrete, I know I wouldn't be able to stop you," Mustang drawled and Ed nodded.

Ed breathed out, pent up fury roiling over his shoulders, "I need some phone numbers before the meeting, I'm taking the books."

Mustang nodded, and removed his hand from Ed's shoulder, "Do you want to call Al, or shall I."

Ed waved him off, grabbed the books from a shelf, and then moved to the door, "...I need to do it..."

Mustang nodded, even though Edward was looking the opposite direction, "I'm getting a list of our troops from Fort Briggs. I want you back in here at 0600, we have a lot of work to do."

Ed nodded once more and left the room.

Mustang sighed, and moved back to his desk, sinking into his chair.

Hawkeye slipped into the room, a mug of warm coffee in her hand, and a tenderness in her eyes.

"Sir..." She cut herself off, but then pushed forward, "I took the liberty of calling Miss Rockbell in...I believe... if things go for the worse it will be good to have her here."

Mustang nodded, and accepted the drink, rubbing his hand over his eyes, "...if things go for the worst, Ed is going to need all of us."

Riza grimaced, and stepped closer, hugging Mustang around the shoulders in a surprising breach of their usually office etiquette.

"...I was hoping to never see a war again," Roy spoke quietly,and Riza sighed as one of his arms wound around her waist.

" I think we all were...but this one may yet be stopped, if we can"

"I sincerely hope so, Riza, I really do."

~~.~~.~~.~~.~~

Allen was jittering where he hung, still soaked to the bone, limbs shaking out of his control. The man- Allen had never learned his name- had tried to question him for hours. How did his abilities work, how far could he travel, how much could he take?

One question though, was by far the scariest to Allen.

If he could travel through space, what about time?

Allen's eyes had widened with fear through his mask, and the man had grinned with pure maliciousness.

The man apparently had to go to a meeting, and had left Allen one last present, wrenching his arm up so he was now hanging completely from his wrist, and tying a weight to one foot, throwing him off balance, and making it so every breath was a struggle.

Or, well, it would be, for anyone else.

Allen took a deep breath, and listened to see if anyone else was around. When silence was the only echo, he grabbed the rope wrapped around his wrist, and held it tight. Then he began to swing.

Back and forth, back and forth, he built up velocity until he bunched up his legs, and flipped his body, the foot without the weight tied to it easily slipping into the rung at the top of the cell that the restraining rope was tied to. The weight on the other foot nearly threw him off balance, but he silently thanked the many one arm push up's he had done balanced on chairs and rickety tables, as he was able to hold himself up with ease.

With all of his weight now resting on the rung, Allen unwound the rope from his hand, and used his teeth to bite through.

He dropped to the ground with a huff, letting out a strained breath, and quickly untied the weight from his ankle.

He breathed out again, and moved to the door, swiftly opening it as apparently the stupid man had thought he wouldn't be able to get out on his own.

Idiot.

Allen skillfully made his way to a room at the end, and was happy to see that someone had left their coat on a desk, next to some files and objects that Allen tried not to even think about... as they were lined up next to the electronic device that had been used on him.

Allen threw the coat over his shoulders, raised the hood, and stopped to grab a large ice pick from the pile of...things. He shuffled it into his sleeve, and silently made his way up from the cells.

'At least I'm used to fighting with one hand,' Allen consoled himself, and he carefully made his way to the upper levels.

Allen kept his hood lowered, but walked with purpose, as he entered the main level. He tried to keep his body from jerking, but it seemed that whatever effects the torture had had would not go away easily.

He grimaced, and nearly toppled over as a violent spasm shuddered through his body, causing him to let out a tense sound.

'I just need to get out of here, then I can rest,' Allen let out a small whimper, but stood straight.

An arm suddenly came out of a side room, and pulled him in, and a hand wrapped around his mouth.

~~.~~.~~.~~.~~

Alphonse Elric looked at the message that had been left on his desk in shock. Ed had sent it not moment before with one of Allen's circles, and Al couldn't believe what it said.

No.

No, not Allen..he...he needed to go back, now!

Al quickly stuffed some of the things from his office into his always waiting bag, and he made a beeline for the head researcher's office.

He strode into the room, without even knocking, surprising both Head Researcher Lee, and May Chang.

"I'm leaving," Al spoke quickly, causing the both of them to look up with concern, "Drachma started a war with Amestris, and took my brother. I have to go, I'm sorry."

May's eyes opened even wider with concern, "They took your brother?"

Al nodded, "Allen...they..." he let out a breath through his teeth, "I don't know...if I will be back...if they..."

Head Researcher Lee nodded, "I will have a car here in minutes, and I believe there is caravan preparing to leave this afternoon, but only on one condition."

Al grimaced, but nodded hesitantly.

Lee grinned, "I want you to take May with you."

Al blinked once, then twice.

May grinned enthusiastically, and bounced out of the room to grab her things.

"Sir?"

"Just say it is for my own peace of mind, I'd rather not have you travel alone, and who knows what kind of situation may occur," Lee nodded, and then paused, letting out a sigh, "Just stay safe, both of you."

Al gave a facsimile of a smile, "I'll try..."

"That is the best I can hope for, I suppose...now go, make sure May doesn't take too much, will you?"

Al nodded, and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

'Hold on Allen, we are coming.'

~~.~~.~~.~~.~~

Ed was sitting at his desk, trying to go over more names, places, people, anything, but he couldn't even think properly.

Because those fuckers had taken Allen, taken him right under their noses, with fake soldiers and a plot that spoke of way too much knowledge, and Ed couldn't do anything and...

He let out a growl, and stood from his desk, throwing his door open, and almost running over someone who had been standing outside, apparently deciding whether to knock or not.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry, I was just," Miranda blanched and wrung her hands, but then she straightened, "I...I want to help, please let me help!"

Behind Miranda stood Taylor, apparently they had heard the news at the same time, and had rushed over.

Ed almost smiled, of course Miranda would come, she came to an entirely new world to follow Allen...in fact...

Ed stared at her, and then he ran a hand through his loose locks, "...yeah..."

Ed closed his eyes, and then drew himself up, "Yes, we need all the help we can get. I have something that I need you to do. Apparently we have a mole, maybe more than one."

Ed smirked, and it was filled with determination, "And we need to flush them out, and you are perfect for that position."

Miranda nodded, determined, and followed Ed back into his office, Taylor had given a quick nod as well, and Ed saw fire burning in his eyes.

Maybe it wasn't rushing into the front lines, but it was something.

~~.~~.~~.~~

Allen immediately began to swing back his arm, but was stopped when a whisper froze him to the spot.

"It's me, calm down!"

Allen froze, and slowly looked back with wide eyes, and his stare connected with another.

"...Ling?" Allen's voice came out half broken, and Ling's eyes filled with pure murder.

Another violent shiver racked Allen's frame, and he found himself being drawn closer to the other man, not that he minded much, because Ling was warm.

"How are you..."

"I took the train to Bindces, I was going to surprise you but then..." Ling trailed off, and Allen could hear the anger in his voice.

"Aah..." Allen spoke, and it was muffled in Ling's shirt, and he made an aborted whimper as Ling gently pushed him back, his eyes searching over Allen's body.

"I was going to come to get you...but apparently you did that yourself," Ling spoke quietly, and his eyes narrowed once he noticed the intermittent tremors along Allen's frame.

"How badly are you hurt...what did they do?" the last sentence came out as a hiss.

"Nothing we can't wait to deal with until we are out of here," Allen spoke, and Ling grimaced, looking like he did not believe that sentiment at all.

"Can you use your circles?" Ling spoke softly, but Allen shook his head.

"I drew one out earlier...I'm to far away and have no idea where we are...are Lan Fan and Fu nearby?"

Ling shook his head, and drew Allen back near him, "I had to leave immediately to keep up, but I left markers. Come, I know how to get out of here, we have to be quick."

Allen nodded, and straightened up, taking a deep breath, and gave Ling a nod.

"Let's go."

Ling nodded, in return, and stepped back out into the main corridor, making sure Allen stayed close.

"...Thank you," Allen spoke quietly, and Ling looked back at him, a small warm smile on his lips.

"I told you I was going to follow you, this is nothing," Lings tone may have been upbeat and mischievous, but his eyes told an entirely different story.

Allen felt the last of the tension leak from his frame.

He wasn't alone.

He was walking forward.

He could do this.


	6. Allen's Adventure: Travel-Ling

Ling wanted to kill someone. No, make that a lot of someones. He had had it all planned, he took the train for Bindces immediately, and he was going to surprise Allen when he was done with his meeting, maybe cajole him into answering more questions. However, all of his plans had been scrapped when he heard the commotion from inside the meeting room, and had seen the cars drive away. He felt Allen's qi in the cars, and smuggled aboard one of the trailing vans to see where they were going.

By the time the cars had stopped for good, Ling knew they were far into the Drachman territory, and had to quickly vacate into a nearby tree or else be caught.

He waited for night to fall, and made his way inside through a door he had "opened." He moved silently through the base, but had stopped into a side room when he felt different qi's approaching.

He had staid stuck in that room for some time, but soon it seemed as if everyone was heading the same direction, so he got ready to sneak out.

Except.

Except a very familiar qi was moving towards him, at a sluggish pace. As soon as it reached the door, he thrust a hand out, and grabbed the person into the room covering his mouth for good measure.

Allen's eyes were wide with shock when he realized who was there. His hair was a tangled mess, and his face red, bruised lip bleeding sluggishly down his chin. His automail arm was gone, and he was jittering in place, seeming to flinch every time he moved.

Thus, Ling wanting to kill someone.

"Come on," He whispered to the shorter boy, and carefully levered him up with one arm around his shoulders, being careful not to touch the open socket where his left arm had once been, "There is no one around right now, we need to move while we can."

Allen nodded, and took a deep breath, and the moved forward as one.

Ling was feeling particularly lucky that he could sense qi, as he was keeping his eyes on Allen for the entire time. Every grimace and wince was recorded to make sure whoever had done this would make the face times tenfold.

They had to take a break down the last major hallway, as Allen tried to stuffle his wheezing breathe. Ling propped him against the wall, and pressed against him to try to keep the shivers down.

"M'okay, we gotta go," Allen whispered, and Ling grimaced, then shrugged, and hauled Allen into his arms bridal style.

Allen let out a belated noise, and glared at Ling, but Ling just smiled at him, and began to move quickly down the hall.

"There are more guards outside, we can move quicker this way," Ling smiled, but his eyes were wide open as he watched their surroundings.

Allen grumped but stayed still, trying to surreptitiously warm himself up.

Carefully, carefully, Ling managed his way through the door he had entered with, and then quickly sprinted across the compound, staying low, and hiding whenever he felt the hint of someone nearby.

At last they made it out of the compound, but Allen was shivering in earnest by then, and Ling grimaced at the cold winds tore through their coats. He looked around, and spotted a small alcove nearby. He rushed over, and carefully laid Allen against the cave wall. In quick movements he took off his own coat, and laid it next to Allen covering the floor and a bit of the wall. Then he picked up Allen once more and placed him on the coat.

"Stay here, I will look for some more supplies," Ling glared at Allen, who blearily blinked in response.

Ling grimaced, and then vanished back towards the compound, glancing up at the skies to make sure that it wouldn't snow while he was gone.

~~.~~

Allen slouched down against the cave wall, and now that he was alone, let out a low whimper, and clutched at his automail arm socket.

His entire body twitched at the thought of what happened. Yes, being electrocuted while being coated in salt water was painful, but being electrocuted while covered in salt water and having open connections to his nerve endings encased in metal was a million times worse. His body was screaming, he wanted to scream, but he just clenched his teeth and breathed slowly out of his nose.

His entire body felt like one large electric shock, and his left shoulder was twitching with both the pain of the shock, and the phantom pain of his missing arm.

He curled up, his forehead resting against his knees.

"What a good time to have a stalker," he muttered to himself, and then a laugh built up in his chest.

"This is so ridiculous," he giggled, and then clamped his mouth shut as another groan tried to force it's way through.

He blinked, and looked out of the cave entrance at the blinding light ground, blinking in and out with the last rays of the sun.

It was about to get very cold, and very quickly.

He tried to focus, but soon found himself leaning listlessly against the wall head tilted out towards the opening of the cave.

"-llen, Allen!" A voice rung out next to him, and Allen tried to pry his eyes open, but to no avail.

"Allen, come on, I need you to wake up," the voice continued, " you have to tell me what happened, I have medical supplies, but they are useless unless you tell me."

Allen let out a stuttered sound, and tried to force his eyes open once more, blinking a couple of times, Ling's concerned face came into view.

"Not much you can do," Allen choked out, "Electric shock...remove from... treat after injuries...automail causing problems...couple of...burns I think..." he trailed off.

Ling looked caught between horror and murder, "They electrocuted you! But without the arm the automail was an open circuit, directly to your heart..."

A warm hand rested against Allen's throat, and it took him a lot longer then it should have for him to realize that Ling was taking his pulse.

It was tense and quiet, but then Ling let out a small sigh, "It is beating normally."

Allen let out a small laugh, "Least I didn't get stabbed through the heart this time."

The hand still resting on Allen's neck froze, and then moved down his chest to rest above his heart.

"Yes..." Ling shook himself out of his stupor, and carefully moved Allen so he was leaning against him instead of the cave wall.

Allen was a bit more awake, and saw that Ling had three large duffel bags of material, and had somehow found a large tarp to secure over the entrance of the cave to keep out the drafts and keep in the warm.

Ling carefully shrugged Allen out of his coat, and grabbed a bottle of water. He carefully washed all of the open burns and cuts, and began to wrap them up again.

"You know a lot about medical care," Allen mused, still slumped against' Ling's side.

He felt Ling nod, even as the man placed wrap around a particularly bad burn on his right arm.

"Fu taught Lan fan and I while we traveled together, it is safer to treat yourself then have to stop by some Doctor that you do not know you can trust," he spoke as if he was repeating the words from memory.

Allen nodded, " I didn't really know much, Teacher never really taught me anything, and I was usually able to just walk through most injuries. Whenever it got really bad I ended up with the Order's hospital, and that was fine..."

Ling's hands stilled, but he finished dabbing some of the cream on one last cut. He then twisted a bit, and Allen saw he had pants, undergarments, and a large warm looking shirt.

"Do I even want to know how you got those?" Allen raised an eyebrow, and Ling shot him a shit eating grin.

"Don't worry, they are very clean!" He then became a bit more serious, "Can you dress yourself, or will you need help?"

Allen took a breath, trying to see where his body was, "I can do it, I'm well enough for that, oh..." He trailed off, but then spoke again quickly, "Thank you."

Ling nodded, and carefully removed himself from Allen, causing Allen to almost miss the warmth.

Allen slowly put the clothes on, and then walked over to where ling was going through the duffle bags.

"You have quite the haul," Allen commented as he watched Ling begin to categorize food, water, sleeping equipment, spare clothing, maps, and a radio from the bags.

"Hmm, they really weren't that good at keeping everything buttoned down."

"I'm guessing they didn't expect anyone to come all the way out here to steal from them," Allen mused philosophically, and he and Ling shared a grin.

"However, we are running out of time," Allen pointed out, and Ling nodded, "As soon as they realize that you are gone, this entire place will be locked down."

Allen grimaced, and ran a hand through his hair, then scowled as he felt what a tangled mess it was. Shaking his hand out of his hair, he looked at it for a second, before letting out a noise of disgust.

"Allen?" Ling looked up at him confused as Allen marched out of the cave, and opened the tarp.

He leaned down into the snow, and carefully drew an array. Placing his hand on it, he moved the rock beneath the snow up until it was just covering the edge of the cave, hiding the entrance from view, but still letting fresh air in.

"I forgot I had alchemy," Allen mourned balefully, and Ling chuckled.

"Well, that does make us safer, but we still should leave early, to try to make it out before they can begin to search," Ling stood staring at the map, and then pointed, "I believe we are at the Kant base, here along the mountains, we can follow the woods along the road, and that should lead us to some settlements closer to the border where we may be able to get closer to Amestris."

Allen leaned over his shoulder, and nodded, "We may have to stay away though, if they get my picture out it is very hard to hide my...characteristics," he grimaced at the last word, and Ling shot him a fox smile.

"With me being Xingese, and you being whatever you are, we do indeed stick out."

Allen sighed, and then poked Ling, "Here, I took a nap already, so I can take first watch, I will wake you up in four hours."

Ling gave him a look as though he was about to argue, but Allen forged on, "I probably need to stay awake for a while anyway, just to make sure nothing is wrong."

Ling grimaced, but nodded in acquiescence, "You will wake me up if anything happens, yes?"

"Yes," Allen told him with a roll of his eyes. Ling smirked, and grabbed one of the sleeping bags, and settled towards the back of the cave.

Allen grabbed the pair of jackets he had been encased in, and leaned up against the front next to the tarp with a clear eye on the base.

For now, they were safe.


	7. Edward's Experience: Call to Arm

~~.~~Edward~~.~~

Ed was scribbling away on a piece of paper, tallying up the total count from the call in of Fort Briggs. He blindly read through the numbers, positioning them against their areas in the border. Though it seems the army had marched up close to the border at the moment they hadn't moved, obviously waiting for some kind of signal.

Ed shuffled over, and grabbed a stack of notes one of the General's aid had dropped by, focusing on weak points on the Amestrian border with Drachma, as well as the most fortified areas. He mapped the positions against each other, and then leaned back, confused.

"Something wrong, chief?" Breda walked into the room, hoisting another pile of papers.

"Yeah, look at this," Ed gestured forward, and Breda dumped the pile in a nearby chair.

"Here is a map of where the Drachman's are lining up, and here is the comparison of our defenses," Ed pointed from one map to the other, "They are half way into the desert! The could have covered half of Amestris' borders at this time, but instead they are lining up from Fort Briggs and to the East. We know that they aren't making a joint effort with Xing, the Emperor is close to death and can't push a war at the moment. We know they have had dealings in the past with Creta and Aerugo, but there has been no movement with their troops, either."

Ed tapped his pen against the map, tilting his head from side to side.

"Hmm," Breda leaned over, tracing the lines of the maps, "We know that Allen was taken from Esfakot, which lines up well with the position of their troops, but you don't need an army to take down one person..." Breda trailed off, looked over at Ed, flickers of comprehension passing over his face, but then continued on, "So whatever they want is most likely in this area."

Ed growled at the paper, "The thing is, is they have no preparation to fight in the desert, we would have the advantage there, they never attacked from that side before, and would not know what to expect."

"Well, maybe that's the point," Breda nodded, "They have this huge army set up because they know they won't be able to get through the desert easily, but there must be something important for them to risk this army to get there."

"We just need to figure out what it is," Ed grumbled, and then blinked.

He stood, and grabbed a small folder of information. He dropped it on the desk, and brushed the other paper's aside. He started flipping through papers, his brows drawn tight.

"What is this?"

"Allen managed to set up the beginnings of a treaty with the Ishvalans around the ruins of Xerxes, they might have more information on what is happening, and we should warn them of this possibility."

"They won't want soldiers out there," Breda pointed out.

"No, but I think they would like the warning, from what Allen told me, they don't mind me or Al, so if they get a message from us it won't cause too many problems...I can send them a message with Allen's circles, but they can't send one back. Well, it would work better then nothing," Ed began piling other papers around.

"Thanks, Breda," Ed gave him a smirk, and Breda smiled in response.

"Got it, chief," Breda saluted, and left the room.

Ed began writing the message, going over the terms for the treaty, as well as information about the upcoming situation. He tucked it in his pocket, and got up from his desk.

He walked down the hall, and over to where Riza was piling over paperwork. He gave her a wave, and walked into Mustang's office

"I'm heading over to Allen's, I'm going to send a message to the Ishvalans in the area, it looks like Drachma is targeting something in the desert, so they might have some clue about what is going on. You want anything else sent?"

Mustang looked up, face pinched, "I'm guessing you also wrote back about the treaty? Here, let me read it."

Ed rolled his eyes, and handed over the letter. Mustang read it quickly, and handed it back,"Well, at least it isn't in crayon. Fine, send it. We will have to look into who we can use as a messenger between the Ishvalans and us."

Ed nodded, "I was thinking Al, when he gets back, I was going to send him a message and tell him to stay in the area. He will probably reach there ina couple more days, and that way we won't need to worry as much."

Mustang blinked in surprise, "You don't want him here?"

Ed grimaced, "Of course I do, bastard! But..we both need to do what we can do, and he will do better out there than here. I can work here just fine, but he wouldn't be able to do much here."

Mustang nodded in approval, "Alright, send a message to him too, and make sure to add that to the letter."

Ed nodded, gave a half hearted salute, and made his way to Allen's apartment.

He opened the door, and walked inside, glancing at the mismatched furniture. He walked over to Allen's "teleport" room. He grabbed the chart from the wall, and flipped through pages till he saw the most recent update.

Ed walked over to the transmutation circle, and with chalk added a few lines along the middle, with that it would transport the message to the circles Allen had set up in the Ishvalan camp.

Ed placed the letter in the circle, and clapped. The flash bang and cackle of alchemy cracked through the room, and after a few seconds, the letter was gone. Ed then roughed out the old chalk markings, and put in new ones he had memorized. Placing Al's letter down, he repeated the procedure, knowing that Al would receive the letter in the small wooden box he carried with him everywhere, much the same as Ed did.

Ed wiped away the chalk again, and left the room. He walked into the main hall and froze, something seeming to be off. Ed slowly clapped his hands together, and edged out his automail arm into a blade.

"You must be Mr. Elric," a gruff voice spoke from nearby, and Ed jumped back with a yell, stepping into a fighting stance.

He looked around the room, and couldn't see anyone, but then slowly looked up.

A piercing shout wrung out across the apartment complex, but once the neighbors heard that it came from the Walker residence, it was summarily ignored.

Ed stared at the two figures who had been hanging to Allen's ceiling, his face twitching.

"The fuck are you doing here!"

One masked figure looked at the other, and then shrugged. The shorter of the two spoke.

"We are looking for our Lord, Ling Yao, if you have any idea where he is you, will tell us."

Ed's face slowly morphed into a devil's smile, "Oh, so that is the stalker's name is it?"

The taller squeaked, and then spoke, "Our Lord is not a stalker! How dare you say that!"

Ed raised an eyebrow, and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, "You must be his bodyguards...well good job you did then, you lost him!"

At once both figures bowed their heads, and Ed could feel the depression seeping into the air.

"Anyway, no idea where the stalker is, I'm busy, war to stop, brother to find," Ed shook his head, and began to turn to leave.

"War?" the taller one questioned.

Ed grimaced, 'Yeah, fucking Drachma kidnapped Allen, the entire country is about to be up in arms."

The smaller spoke, a sense of dread filling his voice, "They kidnapped Mr. Walker?"

The taller one groaned, "Oh no."

Ed raised an eyebrow, looking at them with annoyance.

"My Lord," the shorter groaned out, and then shook his head.

"What?" Ed growled, and the shorter nodded to the taller.

"We will be coming with you. Fullmetal Alchemist."

"What? WHY?"

The taller spoke again, her voice heavy with annoyance, "Our Lord most likely followed Mr. Walker...and as such...they are probably stuck their together."

Ed's eye twitched.

~~.~~

"So what you are saying is," Mustang spoke, trying to stop himself from smiling,"Is that Allen's stalker, who you wanted to eviscerate, has somehow followed him and most likely ended up in Drachman territory, and is one the closest heirs to being the next Emperor of Xing."

Ed nodded, glowering.

"And, that this kid's bodyguard lost him, so they are stalking you instead."

Ed huffed.

Mustang nodded, keeping his face deadpan.

"Well, look on the brightside Fullmetal, at least Allen isn't alone."

"Stalker," Ed growled, his eyes narrowing.

Mustang waved his hand and swatted the word away, "Are they willing to work with you?"

Ed groaned, but nodded.

"Very well," Mustang spoke magnanimously, and then looked over to the two who hadn't spoke, "As I'm guessing you didn't come into the country legally-" both froze"-I'm giving you permission to stay in Amestris as long as you follow certain rules. You will help us with information gathering, and any knowledge you have of the area and of what the Drachman's aims are. You do not harm Amestrian citizens during your stay, except for self defense. And," an evil grin spread over his face, causing Ed to look at him with worry, "You will stay with the Fullmetal Alchemist during your stay."

"WHAT?"

~~.~~Miranda~~.~~

Miranda made her way off of the train, and looked around the station. She made her way over to the waiting car.

"Private Johnson, ma'am," a soldier saluted, and Miranda entered the car, her face staying blank.

The private began to drive them, looking back in the mirror every once in awhile, steadily getting more nervous.

Miranda said nothing.

'What am I doing, I'm going to screw everything up, I'm a failure!' Miranda was freaking out in her head, paying no mind to the glances that were being sent her way.

~~.~~Taylor~~.~~

Taylor watched the progress of the car that Miranda had entered, and went to go talk to one of Armstrong's contacts in the city.

"Good luck, Miranda," the man spoke quietly, and raised his hood to block the cold weather.

~~.~~Winry~~.~~

Winry shook out her arms, and looked around the crowded train station. Her eyes skimmed over the crowd, until they caught on an extremely large man standing in the middle of the platform.

She raised her hand and waved," Mr. Armstrong!"

He looked over, and sparkles sprouted out all over his person, " Ah, young Miss Rockbell! Let me take that bag for you! Come, we must head to the Capitol building at once!"

"How is Ed doing?" Winry questioned as she followed closely behind the man, who was parting the foot traffic in front of him.

"He is...doing what he can, we should talk more about this later, but I believe that your presence here will aid him with his work," Armstrong said gruffly.

Winry nodded, shoulders heavy with worry, "Alright, let's go!"

~~.~~Alphonse~~.~~

Al blinked with surprise as his bag crackled with alchemy, but he quickly dug through it and pulled a small letter out. He read through the letter, and scowled.

"What was that?" May looked over with interest.

"Brother doesn't want me to go back to Amestris," Al replied, looking over the letter again, annoyed at how much sense it made.

"But, why?" the girl blinked, "I thought he wanted you to go back home?"

"He thinks it would be better for me to stay with the Ishvalan's near Xerxes. It looks like they may be right in the way of whatever is going to happen, so he wants to make sure that we have someone in the middle," Al sighed.

"That does make sense...and while we are there we can look at the old Xerxes ruins!" May grinned, and Al smiled in response. He then urged his camel forward, to tell the Caravan leader of the change in location.

Al let out a sigh, and crumpled the letter in his hand, reading over the last line one more time.

_"and whatever you do, stay safe. We are going to get that idiot back, no matter what."_


End file.
